Earthborn by Sylvia Waugh

Author:Sylvia Waugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RHCP

CHAPTER 21

* * *

Where can she be and what can we do?

When Nesta failed to return on the first bus, Alison decided to meet the next one. The bus stop was on the corner of the street, on the main road that led through the estate. It was visible from the front gate, but the darkness and a certain unspecified anxiety made Alison tense. She wanted to see her daughter step down from the next bus; yet she was visited by an overwhelming certainty that Nesta would not be on it.

The bus was five minutes late. It stopped and an old man Alison knew only by sight climbed up the steps slowly, clutching his walking stick. No one alighted. There were no passengers at all coming to Linden Drive. The next bus would be in half an hour’s time. Alison stood dismayed. There was no point in standing in the cold for half an hour. Her own front door was hardly five minutes away.

‘What if she’s run away?’ said Alison to Matthew after she told him that Nesta had been on neither of the two buses she normally used. ‘She’s never as late as this without telling us.’

‘Check her room,’ said Matthew. ‘See if there’s any sign there. But you know, for practical purposes, this is her last day on Earth. Maybe she’s stopped to talk to friends, or to look at places she has cared about here. There are all sorts of explanations.’

In Nesta’s room, there was no note on the dressing-table; nothing appeared to be missing that might not be stuffed in the yellow bag that was on the floor at the foot of her bed, apparently all packed and ready to go.

‘We should check the bag,’ said Alison.

‘She was told she could take whatever she wanted. I don’t like prying,’ said Matthew.

Alison looked at him, exasperated.

‘Ideals are all very well, but Nesta is very late and we have the right and the duty to find out all we can, even if it means opening her bag. You’re a hard man to understand, Matthew Gwynn!’

‘Open it then,’ said Matthew softly. ‘Open it, Athelerane.’

Alison blushed at his use of her true name in a tone that made it sound like an endearment. Anxiously, she pulled the zip round the end of the yellow bag; its lid flopped back and an envelope fell to the floor. Her heart was filled with dread as she picked it up.

‘To Mom and Dad’ was the inscription. The flap was sealed down and Alison tore it open. She trembled as she removed the letter from inside. She hesitated, then handed it to Matthew.

‘You read it,’ she said. ‘I can’t.’

Matthew read in silence.

Dearest Mom and Dad,

You told me so much, but you would not listen to what I had to say. I am not coming to Ormingat. I am never coming to Ormingat. I am Earthborn and Earthbound. I do love you very much. If you leave without me, I do not know what I shall do.

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